


i've been having dreams, splashing in a summer stream

by endofdaysforme



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, M/M, anyway here's my sad attempt at writing ma boy archie getting a happy ending with kevin!, i actually love the idea of these two i'm sad where's bi archie, let him riiiiiise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 16:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18742768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endofdaysforme/pseuds/endofdaysforme
Summary: archie would be lying if he said he was doing okay. the truth is, he misses josie a lot. but surprisingly, kevin has kind of been his rock during the whole situation.archie’s thankful for him. kevin’s kind of made him feel so much better about the whole thing. he’s happy for josie and he wants her to succeed on her father’s tour, but it doesn’t mean he won’t miss her. they had something so good, letting her go was hard…“hey, you wanna join my dad and i for dinner?” kevin asks. archie’s about to reply when tom suddenly pokes his head out of his office with a deep sigh.“hey, kev, buddy, i’m sorry, but i think i’m gonna be awhile. why don’t you and archie head on out and i’ll meet you guys there when i’m done?” he says, not even waiting for an answer before he gives them a smile and makes his way back into the office. kevin frowns, but says nothing more as he punches archie’s shoulder with a grin.“what do you say? pop’s?”--aka, after josie leaves town, archie's left heartbroken, but maybe kevin's there to pick up the pieces.--aka my "LET ARCHIE BE BI AND DATE KEVIN!" attempt at a fic for a friend who ships them as much as i do!





	i've been having dreams, splashing in a summer stream

**Author's Note:**

> hiiiiii.
> 
> look at me, writing another bi archie fic, listen...i love the idea, okay? i need it to happen, like badly. also him and kevin make me wanna cry, they have no scenes together, BUT THEY COULD BE SO GOOD, UGH.
> 
> anyway, avery, i hope you like this! i know i'm shit cause i was supposed to write something else and ended up putting it on the back burner, i hope this makes up for it :(
> 
> twitter: @endofdaysforme. 
> 
> oh, choni is in this too, because i couldn't not put them in it, and you KNOW they'd be the number one karchie shippers, come on.
> 
> fic title from “Trampoline” by SHAED

“hands up, archie! up!”

 

archie andrews’s arms feel like lead, and no matter how hard he tries to lift them to cover his face from attack, tom keller’s bean bag covered hand claps the side of his ear with a grunt of disapproval before he straightens up and looks at archie with a frown and a disappointed sigh.

 

“archie, come on, how many times have we talked through this?!”

 

“arms up for defense. i know…” archie manages to gasp out, nodding his head almost drunkenly before he slams his gloved hands together in an attempt to fire himself up, but tom simply sighs and shakes his head before he’s slipping off his own bean bagged gloves and throwing them to the ground.

 

“go hit the showers, you’re exhausted.”

 

“no, i can do this!” archie manages to somehow growl through his mouth guard, but tom is already walking to the ropes and making his way out of the ring between them as archie tries to catch his breath and spits out the mouth guard in anger.

 

“mr. keller, i can do this-.”

 

“i know you can, archie! but you’re gonna burn yourself out! get out of the ring and hit the showers, you’re done for the day!” he shouts out, pausing at the door when it opens to reveal none other than kevin keller, who grins widely and makes his way inside the gym to give his father a hug.

 

archie can’t help the grin that immediately lights up his face at the sight of the young man.

 

“hey dad! ready to go?”

 

“yeah, give me a second to sort out some paperwork, then we’ll go.” tom says with a grin as he claps kevin’s shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. archie realizes at this point, there’s no way tom is going to give up spending time with his son to continue training him, so he sighs and sinks his teeth into the ties at the wrist of his gloves and yanks on it, shrugging both gloves off and dropping them to the ground before making his way out of the ring towards his friend.

 

maybe it’s not so bad that they’re stopped now, at least he gets to talk to kevin-

 

“hey, archie!” kevin calls out, smiling widely as archie simply gives him a smile and drops down from the ring with a sigh.

 

“hey…how are you, kev?”

 

“not too bad…how are you holding up today?” kevin asks, his smile quickly fading as he makes his way over to archie, who begins drinking from his bottle slowly in order to avoid the question a little longer.

 

he knows kevin’s asking about josie, about their break up and her sudden departure from riverdale…he has been asking for the last few weeks since she left. 

 

archie would be lying if he said he was doing okay. the truth is, he misses josie a lot. but surprisingly, kevin has kind of been his rock during the whole situation.

 

josie’s step-brother had sought archie out once he had said his own goodbyes to josie, had found him sulking and moping at pop’s before he had sat down and had lunch with him to try and cheer him up, and since then, they’ve kind of been inseparable. 

 

archie’s thankful for him. kevin’s kind of made him feel so much better about the whole thing. he’s happy for josie and he wants her to succeed on her father’s tour, but it doesn’t mean he won’t miss her. they had something so good, letting her go was hard…

 

“hey, you wanna join my dad and i for dinner?” kevin asks. archie’s about to reply when tom suddenly pokes his head out of his office with a deep sigh.

 

“hey, kev, buddy, i’m sorry, but i think i’m gonna be awhile. why don’t you and archie head on out and i’ll meet you guys there when i’m done?” he says, not even waiting for an answer before he gives them a smile and makes his way back into the office. kevin frowns, but says nothing more as he punches archie’s shoulder with a grin.

 

“what do you say? pop’s?”

 

\--------------

 

the sight of cheryl blossom and toni topaz in the corner booth at pop’s snuggled up and giggling as cheryl feeds her girlfriend french fries has archie smiling dopely as he sips from his own milkshake, a chuckle escaping him that has kevin frowning before he turns and sees what’s got archie so happy.

 

“ah, president blossom and first lady topaz…still surprised at how long they’ve lasted.” kevin says with a chuckle, prompting a grin from archie as he shrugs and leans back into his chair, finally dragging his eyes away from the happy couple as he does.

 

“they’ve been dating for what, over a year now?” archie asks. kevin nods slowly, turning back to look at the girls with a fond smile.

 

“yeah, and looks like they’re still going strong. it’s nice to see cheryl so happy, she deserves it.” kevin says softly. archie nods in agreement, his eyes moving back to the red head in question as he sighs and draws his fingers over the watery condensation of his milkshake glass.

 

“yeah, she does…it’s kind of hard to think that over a year ago, she was…well…” archie trails off, a shiver running up his spine as the memory of cheryl blossom falling beneath the ice of sweet water river floods his mind. he still can’t believe he managed to save her life, still can’t believe she’s sitting just a few feet away from him, cuddled up with the girl she loves when just over a year ago, he had carried her lifeless body through the snow in a desperation to get her somewhere warm…

 

“she was in a bad place…kind of like you are now.” kevin says, watching archie with a raised eyebrow. the boy blinks a few times in surprise before he shakes his head quickly in dispute.

 

“what? no, i mean…i’m…i’m not gonna even try to compare my trauma to what cheryl’s been through-.”

 

“archie, you went to juvie falsely accused of murder, were forced to leave everyone you love behind to go on the run and got attacked by a bear, which you almost died from, by the way! not to mention having to watch your dad get shot and being taken advantage of by an older woman, you’ve…god, you’ve been through a lot, too. don’t try to downplay it to look brave or strong, you honestly give cheryl a run for her money.” kevin says with a chuckle, not in a mean way, but an understanding one as archie frowns and taps his fingers on the table to distract himself.

 

kevin’s right…he’s been through his fair share of crap, but still…archie’s okay. kind of…maybe…

 

“i don’t know, kev…josie kind of helped me get out of that dark place and now that she’s gone, i’m just…struggling to find something else to anchor myself to.” archie murmurs, avoiding eye contact as he hears kevin sigh loudly.

 

“archie, that’s the thing…you don’t need to anchor yourself to anyone. you got yourself through it all this whole time. _you’re your own anchor._ ” kevin says softly. archie finds himself staring at the boy in shock, not quite understanding why his words are hitting him so hard when kevin suddenly sighs and sinks back into his seat, picking at his fries with a sudden look of sadness in his eyes.

 

“when moose left…i didn’t really know who to turn to, either. cheryl and toni actually helped out quite a bit, but they’ve had their own things going on, trying to get ‘the pretty poisons’ up off the ground, and betty and jughead have got this whole gargoyle king crap going on, and then veronica and reggie are always busy with the speakeasy…there was kind of no one else to talk to…except josie. but now she’s gone, too.” kevin says with a sad smile, and archie’s actually surprised to see tears in the young boy’s eyes as he sighs shakily and blinks rapidly in an effort to expel them.

 

and archie has no idea why, but for some reason, he reaches out and takes kevin’s hand resting on top of the table into his own, a spark of _something_ he can’t explain rushing through him when kevin looks up at him with wide eyes filled with surprise.

 

“i’m here for you, kev. i’m sorry everyone else has been so busy, but you’ve helped me through a lot the last few weeks and i wanna help you, too. i’m…i’m sorry about moose.” archie says with a sad smile, prompting kevin to sniff once before he waves his hand nonchalantly and squeezes archie’s hand back with the other.

 

“it’s okay…i don’t blame him for wanting to get the hell away from this town. i don’t blame josie, either. it’s just hard…letting go of the people you love, you know?” kevin murmurs. archie nods solemnly, glancing up just as veronica walks into the diner in her yellow uniform, ready to start a shift waitressing. his heart pangs a little at the sight of her, but he smiles as best he can and looks up at kevin before nodding.

 

“it does. but hey, at least you can form new friendships and relationships, right?” he croaks out. kevin chuckles a little, and archie finds himself looking back over at cheryl and toni.

 

who are staring straight at him.

 

cheryl’s smirk is wide, eyebrow raised and watching as toni suddenly waves him over urgently, and archie blinks once in confusion before he clears his throat and looks to kevin with a smile.

 

“hey, i’ll be back. uh, bathroom.” he mumbles. kevin simply nods once, and archie reluctantly lets go of his hand, watches as kevin pulls out his phone before he makes his away over to cheryl and toni as conspicuously as he can.

 

“what?” he whispers, crouching down at their booth and watching as toni grins at him widely.

 

“are you two on a date? wanna double?” she asks, nodding to the opposite side of the booth she’s sitting at with cheryl. 

 

archie’s eyes widen in complete shock before he scoffs nervously and shakes his head furiously.

 

“wh-what? n-no, we’re just hanging out-.”

 

“yeah, you two have been just ‘hanging out’ a lot lately…kinda like how cheryl and i used to just ‘hang out’ before we started dating.” toni says with a wicked grin, prompting cheryl to suddenly lean over her girlfriend to grip archie’s hand in her own.

 

“bring your butts over here and double date with us, archiekins. it’s a perfect cover! if you like it, ask him out on a proper date, if not, you never have to think of it again!” cheryl says, as if it’s the most simple thing in the world.

 

“i…i-.”

 

“hey, kevin! come over here!” toni yells out, prompting the boy to turn with wide eyes as archie groans and slams his forehead against the table top, only for cheryl to scruff the back of his head affectionately while toni waves kevin over eagerly.

 

“it’ll be good! sit down, come on!” she urges, grinning as kevin makes his way over, and archie bites his lip before he slides into the booth, smiling up at kevin as he slides in beside him with a deep sigh.

 

“ladies…hope we’re not crashing your date-.”

 

“not at all, dearest kevin keller, your presence could never ruin anything!”

 

\--------------

 

three hours later, and archie thinks it’s safe to say that this is the best time he’s ever had inside pop’s diner.

 

cheryl and toni are in fits of laughter as kevin tells them the story of the time he got chicken pox as a child and had a spot in the middle of his back he couldn’t quite reach, which had resulted in him practically grinding his back into the carpeted stairs of his home for some relief when his parents had come home from dinner and found him splayed on the last four steps of the carpet with his foot hitting the bottom step happily like a dog getting its belly scratched.

 

“it was humiliating, but, ultimately, a fond memory that my dad constantly teases me about!” kevin says, sighing as cheryl wipes away tears of mirth while archie just watches it all happen with a goofy smile on his face.

 

it’s been three hours of swapping stories and eating dinner, and despite this being a tradition with himself, jughead, betty and veronica, doing this with kevin, cheryl and toni feels different…it feels _better._

 

there’s no hidden animosity or tension over strange board games or crazy fathers causing chaos, no mystery to be solved and no problem that needs fixing. it’s just four teenagers, enjoying their lives and each other’s company. 

 

archie’s never felt safer…never felt _warmer._

 

“ah, well…as fun as this has been, gentlemen, my shift at _la bonne nuit_ is about to start, so i should probably head down. do you want me to drop you home, babe?” toni asks, turning to her girlfriend with the softest expression archie’s ever seen on the face of the leader of ‘the pretty poisons’, an equally happy expression lifting the student body president’s face as she lifts a hand to cradle toni’s cheek gently.

 

“no, it’s okay, t.t. i don’t mind hanging around downstairs until your shift finishes. i’d rather we go home together.” she coos, archie watching in slight awe as toni grins widely and presses a kiss to the corner of cheryl’s mouth before she’s pushing herself up and out of the booth and taking cheryl’s hand into her own to drag her out with her.

 

“in that case, we will see you boys later? we should make this a regular thing, we had a lot of fun tonight.” toni says with a smile, and before archie can agree, kevin’s nodding his head eagerly.

 

“yeah, for sure! uh, i mean…archie, unless you don’t want to-.”

 

“no, i’m down. this was probably the best time i’ve had in a while.” archie says immediately, his heart pounding at the sight of kevin’s breathtaking smile as toni and cheryl simply exchange a knowing look before cheryl drops a twenty dollar bill onto the table.

 

“in that case, we’ll see you both here tomorrow! enjoy the rest of your night, boys! toodles!” cheryl says cheerily, dragging toni along.

 

archie bites back a grin when the pink haired girl turns around at the last second and gives archie a gigantic smile and a thumbs up, nodding down at kevin as if urging him to continue with the fun night they’ve had without them.

 

archie swallows down the nervous lump in his throat as kevin shakes his head with a chuckle and looks to archie warmly.

 

“i was not expecting that to be as fun as it was! i knew toni would have wild stories for days, but cheryl? wasn’t expecting that!”

 

“yeah, neither was i…” archie mumbles, distracting himself by slurping the last dregs of his milkshake as he rests his hand on top of the table, leaving it palm side up just in case-

 

oh.

 

_oh, he actually did it…_

 

archie’s eyes move down to the way kevin’s hand seems to find his own, fingers gently stroking his own before he plucks up the courage to drift his gaze up to kevin himself.

 

kevin’s smiling at him in this way that has archie’s heart kind of doing a conga dance, beating erratically against his chest before the boy finally speaks.

 

“is it me, or were cheryl and toni kind of…pushing us to come sit with them? kind of like we were on a-.”

 

“double date? y-yeah.” archie manages to get out, licking his dry lips with a nervous chuckle before kevin suddenly gives his fingers a reassuring squeeze.

 

“did…did you want it to be one?” he says in a low and slightly shaky voice, as if he’s nervous to ask, and archie isn’t sure why.

 

but somehow, despite braving a bear and a serial killer and a gun to his face and a mobster and fuck, a hundred other things no seventeen year old should have to face…

 

this is the most nervous he’s ever been in his entire life.

 

but he does it anyway.

 

he leans forward, lips only lightly brushing against kevin’s cheekbone in a tender kiss before he pulls back only slightly, their faces close, deep, heavy breaths escaping the both of them before:

 

“yeah. but…how about we go on a proper one? you busy friday night, keller?” archie husks out, lips slightly tingling from where they touched kevin’s skin as the boy swallows loudly and looks up at archie with bright blue eyes shining with hope.

 

“for a date with you? definitely not, andrews.”


End file.
